England boss Roy Hodgson felt his side gave their travelling fans "something to cheer about" in Tuesday's 0-0 draw with Costa Rica.
A host of players made their World Cup debuts in England's final game of the 2014 competition but were unable to deliver victory as Daniel Sturridge passed up a number of chances.
"The feeling is still very hollow because we showed against Costa Rica what a good team we can be," said Hodgson.
"It's so disappointing not to end with a victory but I don't think I could have asked for a much better performance.
"I thought apart from the first ten or 12 minutes of the game we dominated it but unfortunately we didn't take our goal chances – if we had it would been a comfortable victory.
"We created the chances and that's important and normally Daniel Sturridge is so clinical. I'm not that concerned though because I know he will take his chances in the future.
"The key thing is to keep giving him the chances and to be honest I thought we were very unlucky not to win this game.
"I'm pleased we gave the fans something to cheer about with our performance."
Sturridge, one of two in the starting XI who played in the Uruguay defeat, went closest for England with a shot that flew inches past the post.
Wayne Rooney also tested goalkeeper Keylor Navas with a clever chip.
Costa Rica, who will now go into the last 16 as group winners, went close when Celso Borges's free-kick was tipped on to the bar by Ben Foster.
"I thought all of the young players did very well tonight and to be honest I thought the whole back four were excellent," added Hodgson.
"We restricted a team that has beaten Italy and Uruguay and topped the group to almost no chances.
"I thought we dominated them in midfield, we outplayed them in that area and I thought we created goalscoring chances."
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